Tributes are flowing for legendary Australian running coach Pat Clohessy, who has died aged 93, with those who knew him remembering a man as generous and kind as he was expert.
Clohessy grew up in Muswellbrook and Tamworth, where his father worked as postmaster, and took up running after joining the Muswellbrook Athletics Club in 1953. He had early success on the track, winning the 1954 New South Wales Country Championships 880 yards and one mile events in record time, before moving to Sydney and later the United States.
Clohessy is best known as the coach of marathon great Rob de Castella, who he first discovered as an eleven-year-old while teaching at Xavier College in Melbourne. Under Clohessy’s guidance, de Castella won the inaugural World Championship marathon in 1983, defeated the East African field for Commonwealth gold in 1982 and 1986, and set a Boston Marathon course record in 1986. The pair, known nationally as “Deek and Clo,” became close friends as well as coach and athlete.
Clohessy went on to become the Australian Institute of Sport’s distance running coach in 1983, a role he held for eleven years, before moving into a coaching position with Athletics Australia and later becoming head coach at the University of Queensland in 1998. Over his career he mentored a string of Australian champions, including Pat Carroll, Shaun Creighton, Simon Doyle, Sue Hobson, Pat Scammell, Krishna Stanton and Commonwealth Games 5000m gold medallist Andrew Lloyd.
Born on 16 May 1933, Clohessy was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988 for his contribution to sport. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
